NCAA Basketball: Top-25 impact incoming recruiting classes entering 2024-25 season

The landscape of NCAA basketball recruiting, and NCAA athletics in general, has changed. Even if more focus has gravitated toward the comings and goings of the transfer portal, by no means does it dilute the immediate impact incoming recruits can make on their respective teams. 

Entering the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season, there is a plethora of talent in the incoming 2024 recruiting class. Headlined by the likes of Cooper Flagg (Duke), Ace Bailey (Rutgers) and VJ Edgecombe (Baylor) with many other elite talents, take a look at the top-25 impact incoming recruiting classes and see which teams will be impacted the most by their incoming recruiting class.

Honorable mention: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Micah Shrewsberry utilized a duo of freshmen last season in Braeden Shrewsberry and Markus Burton, the top two leading scorers on last year’s squad. Notre Dame may not wow anyone off paper this season, but four-star G/F Sir Mohammed is a name to watch in year two of the Micah Shrewsberry era.

HM: Arkansas State Red Wolves

For a team competing in the Sun Belt, it's rare to find a team ranked in the top 50 in the composite rank recruiting class. However, that’s where HC Bryan Hodgson comes into play, who was the former lead recruiter and assistant coach at Alabama, helping the Crimson Tide land the likes of Brandon Miller and Jaden Bradley. With a top-50 recruiting class in the country, headlined by incoming three-star big man Josh Hill, the Red Wolves will be one of the better teams in the Sun Belt next season.

HM: Syracuse Orange

Second-year head coach Adrian Autry has established his recruiting chops early on, landing five-star prospect Donnie Freeman and retaining four-star prospect Elijah Moore (who committed to the Orange under Boeheim). Freeman, the sixth-ranked recruit in the country, according to On3 Sports, is amongst the most talented forwards in the 2024 recruiting class.